Clatsop County is looking for a new county counsel.

Joanna Lyons-Antley, who has served in the position for more than two years, resigned in early March. She said she wanted more time to spend with her loved ones.

“It was an excruciatingly hard decision because I truly love my job and Clatsop County,” she wrote in an email.

She said she has not been able to be fully present in her 5-year-old son’s life. “After much discussion with my family, we have decided that it would be best for me to take a step back,” she wrote.

Lyons-Antley said she would stay on until the county is able to hire a successor.

Mark Kujala, the chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, said the county will likely contract out the position until a permanent in-house counsel is found, a process that could take a year.

A former city attorney in Klamath Falls and assistant counsel in Coos County, Lyons-Antley was appointed to the Clatsop County position in March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic began. She replaced longtime county counsel Heather Reynolds.

As the county responded to the virus, Lyons-Antley attended Emergency Operations Center meetings and fielded legal questions.

“Joanna weathered a COVID storm, as most everyone on the county staff did. But it was very important to have that stability throughout, and I think she did a fantastic job,” Kujala said.

Lyons-Antley assisted the county through the strategic planning process, and has guided the county through the ongoing issue of zoning and regulating vacation rentals in unincorporated areas. In addition, she has served as a county liaison on the child care work group.